Bearded Dragon

I've had 99% realistic dreams. You sort of walk around the house for a bit, make note that everything looks realistic and perhaps that a few things are out of place, then that's about it. Not too exciting. I do remember though, that my eyes looked hyper-realistic when I looked in the mirror. This was the only difference apart from a bit of a mess in the bathroom that would never have been there, and that there was fog outside where by brain was too lazy to render. I had this happen twice. A 3rd time was a realistic dream where my mind created the scenery. This was more interesting, but very empty like the other times. The scenery was very beautiful and peaceful but not enough to motivate me to do it any more. I had to put in a fair amount of effort to get my internal energetics set up for this, so I just left it at that. Been there, done that.

Yeah try waking up to see spiders or snakes that aren't physically there. Scares the shit out of me when they're right at my face. I'd rather the real ones cos they're a bit more predictable.

haha yeah too much Naruto. I read it too but it's all only loosely based on real stuff. Don't look too deeply into it.

http://zennist.typepad.com/zenfiles/2011/05/letting-go-falling-into-suchness.html

I think that sounds ok more or less, however I think you need to consider that the "you must do this" ideology is additive and does not constitute emptying but rather adding a layer of baggage.

I'm not for all the formalities, but the key ideas are the same as everything else. The koans and sticks can be burnt as far as I'm concerned. Having said that they can can set up an idea to fall into, like the one about the teeth. I like it because of the sense of falling. Falling into the unknown, and with vulnerability with respect to the non-real self. It's just that I think sometimes they can be overused. In practice I have been using the idea to stay present. After a bit of time spent present you tend to grab on to something with your mind, but you let it go and start falling again. Rinse and repeat. This has been helpful for me while going about normal everyday things. I think it's a rather basic practice and a highly useful one.

Bearded Dragon is a kung fu name. The dragon is a typical beast in kung fu, and the other part is because I don't consider shaving a good time investment until it gets itchy or annoying. The lizard of the same name is Australian also, so I think it's fitting. My sifu gave the name to me.

Yes. The same with Bankei. He meditated until severe health problems almost killed him, and as he coughed up a bloody ball of mucus he realised what had eluded him all that time. It can help clear some hay from the haystack so that you can find the needle, but meditation is not finding the needle. I can only conclude this from many accounts of enlightenment that I have read. I have heard the sudden realisation as a "wonderful accident". I think this is a good term. It gives less of a sense of obtaining something and rather just a realisation stemming from setting up the conditions and waiting patiently for it to happen.

I've never heard of ghosts that could actually pick stuff up. At least not with a high level of fine motor control like in rearranging cds. Could be sleepwalking. When I was younger I brought some coffee cups into my parents room presumably because I wanted to make them coffee. It explains things moving about unknowingly.

You can though. In terms of physical structure you don't need it so much once you have the internal structure. But to get the internal structure it's much easier to set up the physical structure. I think that's where some people go wrong. They just try to copy masters without understanding the full picture. I have been guilty of that.

I did some straight line mud walking for a while. The fundamentals alone were fkn awesome. I don't know why you'd want to skip them. The suction cup effect from the steps was directly effecting my ldt in a way I had not felt before. I think it's almost pointless without trying to achieve proper connection.

Read up on Ed Muzica's history. He had severe depression after seeing essence and is an advocate for medication where necessary. Not triggered by that. I just mean some time afterwards.

I don't do weights but I've found that I am physically stronger after doing internal stuff for a while now. When I apply a rigid force for someone to practice their kung fu I find that my energy naturally wants to beef up to compensate. I'm often buzzing with energy after a session like this. Then of course when I do it the proper way I don't get that so much since it requires very little energy to do most things properly. I think that if you set up your body in such a way that the internal stuff becomes a natural process then you'll get it to turn on while doing weights. Although, as you mentioned, you still have to work on your alignments separately so that you don't hurt yourself.

I thought Guangzhou was a breath of fresh air (literally and figuratively) after being in HK for a couple of weeks. Good to see that you opened up. China is probably the place to be to explore that. If you can get into their circles I guess. I think you just have to prove yourself to them.

No. It probably did nothing itself. If you can't sleep then just do more training. Meditation, tai chi, whatever. Anything is a better use of your time then just sitting around tensing up your mind worrying about it. Let go of everything and your body will in time balance out. Not because of some crazy theory, but because it HAS to. It's just the way things work.

Accept everything. Let go of everything. It's easy but progress is slow. If you just concentrate on the idea of letting go (while allowing it to happen by itself) then there isn't anything else to do. Getting stuck is ok also, as long as there is progress. It puts you in a place where there is work to do.

I've been doing something like that. I just stand with my feet horse stance width apart but at standing height, then I drop my energy/weight/mind down through the center of my body to the ground until I'm in horse stance. Then I expand up from the ground like an expanding sphere which helps come back up to standing height again. You really feel the up part. It's something I do in the mornings sometimes when I need a bit of a boost before leaving for work.

I just skip the "and you?" part. It's funny because I've got this a few times on the phone... A: Hi, how are you? B: I'm pretty well. A: I'm good, thanks. It shows the level of awareness and social programming of some people.

Yeah very good points. I have used that for a while now. My job is my millstone. With an increasing amount of pressure it forces you to adapt and let go otherwise you snap. This sort of like the "throwing yourself in the fire" type of refinement but there is no amount of control over what you have to put up with. It's do or die, so to speak. The only control is the choice to not leave in a bad situation. If you can handle an undesirable job then it's good to stick it out for a while and see how you can ride it to refine yourself.

I'm not one for small-talk. Never have been. I like interesting conversations but small-talk is just pointless words to pass the time. In effect it is wasting time (if you ever have time to begin with). It's nothing to do with meditation other than that you're becoming more aware of how pointless certain things are. The effect is that the conversations you do have should be higher quality because you're leaving all the crap behind.

There is no proving it. There is only getting the definition right.

Non-lucid dreams are interesting in a creative sense. The 90% realistic dreams are interesting in an intellectual or explorative sense since you get to create amazing realistic dreamscapes. The 99.9% realistic dreams are so much like reality that you have about as much control as you do in real life. This is like in the video where you eventually get to a point where you realise that life is a 100% realistic dream or at least a direct parallel. I think this is why I lost interest in lucid dreaming.

Well they've done it with a frog, so who knows?

Yeah whatever you reckon. I'll just post anything I think might be helpful.

Yeah if you TRY to dissolve them then you inadvertently create mental tension. If you just have the desire and wait for it to happen on its own then that's what the method is about. Check this out. He knows what he's talking about. http://dankleiman.com/2014/03/13/dont-dissolve-your-blockages/